What is decent every-day-ride shock and what is average charge by local gas station to install 2 rear shocks??

My ride is a 117,000 350 5.7L TA.

Just noticed my "Original" (pretty sure they are) are finally
starting to leak a little on both rears.

I am NOT a performance or racing nut... just looking for a
decent set of Rear shocks (not gonna do the fronts - look ok).

Also no t much $$$ in the bank... but will spend up to $30-35 per shock....

Soooo what's best: Gabriel Ultra = $22/ea - at Autozone ??
Gabriel Guardian = $14/ea at Autozone ???

or should I go with Monroes ?

What should a local gas station charge me for the labor time
to put the 2 rear shocks on ? In general - Ilive in Boston area.

THANKS

 

I have Monroe Sensa-trac on all four corners and are very please. Nice handling and ride. I am also not a performance or racing nut. One reason I have them is that I plan on keeping my car a long time and if you get them from Sears they have a lifetime warranty (i.e. last strut/shocks you'll ever need to buy!).

phil

 

Don't get Gabriel, they are inferior. Get Monroe.

You have to take the back seat out to put in the rear shocks. It takes longer to do that (maybe 5 minutes) and to put the car on the rack (another 2 minutes?), than it does to actually change the shocks.

If you pop the seat out yourself before you take it in, you can probably get them to do it for $25 or less. Especially if you just spiff the tech with nice little green sheets of paper; no credit cards or anything.

 

Or do it yourself. Grab an adjustable wrench, a socket set, a wrench set, a floor jack, two jackstands, and a hammer.

Jack rear up, place on jackstands, put socket on lower shock bolts, hit with hammer to break loose, pull bottom of shock out, get inside car, peal carpet back behind rear seats, use a wrench and adjustable wrench to remove the jam nut and then the main nut, and drop shock out.

Put new shock in, put on and tighten main nut, install jam nut, compress the shock enough to slip it in the lower shock mount on the rear end, put on lower shocknut, put socket on it, and tap with hammer.

The socket set and hammer can be replaced with an air compressor and air impact if you have one..

 

My "ace" GULF station mechanic said: "Do you for $220"...

I get the real feeeling he's trying to gouge me bad, isn't he?
This guy is a GULF station mechanic & owns/fixes his 2 or 3 TransAms and has done some work for me before.

When I ask why so much he said:
- 2 Monroe Senstrak are $100 (50/ea) from his typical gas-station parts supplier (so I'm sure all these gas stations slap on their extra peice of "ripoff" profit.
- Labor - $70/hr for 1 1/3 hours work = $100
I was like WHAT !??
So he says cause (like already said) must take rear seat out (I didn't know that) and would be about 45 minutes each side to take out & replace them. Oh yeh plus Tax he says.

I'm like FORGET it... I was planning if (using my Autozone type prices of a $23-25 shock... and an average $60/hr mechanic labor rate... thought it be like
$50 for parts
$100 for the labor TOTAL = $150


Isn't anything around $200 really insane to pay to do such
a seemmingly simple 2 rear shock job ?

Need more advice, PLEASE.

------

How hard really is it to DIY (do it myself)...
I basically have no or limited tools and NO jackstands and only car's jack and my garage and muscle and limited car mechanic skills.

1. How hard and where do you start to remove the back seat?
a. Do you take it the side door or thru the rear hatch or what?

I looked today in back and inside and right behind the rear seat above the rear wheelhouse is the anchor attachment for the rear seat should seatbelts. Is the shock top-nut under this stuff or somewhere else ???

2. Anybody have the schematic or sketch of the rear shocks and rear seat set up?

THANKS! (I can't be "DONE" for $220 "my friennhd")

 

Oh yehh - What about the bushings etc?

Like will I also need the other washer/rubber bushing/
jam nuts etc (I don't have clue to its assembly) (but I did
see a simple parts breakout on Autozone) and did see there
are a few small "pieces" to get the top/lower shock connected in. Does this jam nuts, new bushings etc. come with the price
of a new set of rear Munroe shocks ??

With my 117,000 K miles and quite rusty underside... will I need
to replace these probably too along with actual shocks?

THANKS

 

WHat the worst can happen? I asked my "ace" about what if I let it go for awhile...

He said/claims - I will probably break the bushing and the shock
will just let go below or pop thru the top.
(I don't really understand what that means)


Can someone (mechanic here?) explain better or further?

Would the wheel fall off or collapse on that particular corner?

Whats' worse could happen? How long could I ride around
with 2 rear shocks with some very little leaking going on now?
(I get $.50 cent - size spots of leakage on ground on both rear sides under car now... Is that real bad, medium, or nothing?)

THANKS

 

If they leak, they are not doing anything any more, except acting as dead weight.

You know how when you go over a bump and it feels like the wheels are pounding on the ground with a sort of stuttering action? Shocks TOTALLY prevent that when working right.

Do it yourself. Like I said, it's about a 5 minute job, once you get the car up in the air and the rear seat out. And getting the seat out is 5 minutes tops.

This is why people throw away perfectly good cars: when they get old, the cost of "having a 'mechanic'" work on it, is prohibitive. Learn to do it yourself. You won't believe how easy that particular task is, until you actually do it; and then you'll be like, why the heck did I ever even THINK about paying somebody else to do that for me.

 

Yeah, definitely DIY. After getting reamed on a transmission mount bushing ($60 to install it + $25 for parts) I decided to just teach myself. A haynes manual is always a good idea so you can get an idea of the size of a project and figure out what tools you'll need. All I can say is 10mm and 1/2" sockets are all over the interior of the car. A set of Torx wrenches are always good to have too.

 

Rear shocks are easy to do. You don't actually have to remove the seat, just fold it down and pull up the hatch carpet. It might be tricky to stuff the carpet back in where the seat is, but I did it.

If I can do it, you can do it, trust me.

 

1- your mechanic is full of it… nothing will happen if you do nothing to the shocks, you’ll just have a crappy ride, pretty much what you have now
2- The price he quoted you is not really unreasonable… well maybe the price of the shocks depending on which ones they are
3- Gabriel shocks _really_ aren’t that bad. Real world, most people will prefer cheap shocks that are working in the back to real high performance shocks in street and even autox sitiuations. My old TA I actually took out my konis and ran Gabriel gas riders because the koni’s were jus to stiff.
4- Do the job yourself, it really is as simple as people here say it is. If you decide to pay someone to do it and you think that you’re going to save money bringing your own shocks… don’t be surprised if they quote you slightly more for the labor. Most shops expect to make a few $ off the parts

 

You can't do this job without jackstands. Buy a pair of AC-Delco 2-ton jackstands at Murray's for $16.99. That's what I did and they work great for a cheap set of jackstands. Good quality for a 2-ton setup. Need one jackstand under each framerail.

 

Anyone have any pictures of where to put the jackstands.....especially on the rear of these cars so the axle can hang and you can replace the shocks?

 

Do it your self!!!!!! It's too easy to pay someone to do it. For a 1st timer I would say start to finish will take you about 20-30 min.

You don't really have to let rear "hang". Most of the times I put jackstands under the axle housing tubes, or just back up on a set of ramps.

I like ramps better than jackstands. About the same price in the stores like wal-mart.

If you want to or have to put jackstands somewhere other than axle housing....

Look at rear end, see the metal flat U shaped bars.. 1 on each side. Those are the lower controll arms.. Follow them and look at where they bolt to the car. Thats your rear frame rails. Put the jackstands about 2" toward front of car from point where lower controll arm bolts on the rear frame rail.

 

Sears did me for only..... $99.95 (I swear)

I called next morning and asked if they had rear shocks for a '89 TA using Monroe Sensatrac - they said yes .... and could do them that very morning... not too busy.

I went right over. Done in about 1 hours time.
I got to stand and watch mechanic do most of job (they don't care about customers in work area - I like that).

He started to try to put car up on the regular lift (looks like H arms that slide in /out and adjust around - what's it name??)
but my LOW LOW exhaust and dual cats get really in way on front right side.

Sooo he goes to the drive-up-on red lift (like one for Hunter 4 wheel alignments)... so he does them there with all 4 wheels just sitting on the lift ramp. He did not have to really jack up body of car or raise wheeels up or anything... (weird I thought).

He reached over inside hatch and pulled rug back (I tried & had hard time doing)... got top nuts off. Unscrewed lower nuts.
Put in brand new shocks.

Getting car off the red drive-on was a b*tch - glad I was standing there... (This happened to me before at the Pontiac dealer who practically tore my 2 cats and exhaust off the car).... so this time - warned and yelled out - hey - the R rear wheel comes off ramp and makes car so low the cats catch on the red ramp. They (now got like 3 mechanics working to get a T/A off their Sears lift) (Pretty funny) had to put some scrap wood under R rear tire to raise it up a bit to get car off the lift. It had about 1/2 inch if that to spare.... (My cats hang pretty low I guess)... no damage this time - Real PIA to have to watch out for always....

I got a LIFETIME Warranty via Sears for the 2 shocks and all
for < $100. Car rides WAYYYY better now and sits up little higher in rear-end now.

I really could not pass this good-deal by since I am such rookie... & would have taken me few days to get parts, tools, (courage & brains) and time etc together to do. Probably run into problems and screw something up.

I would suggest anybody try Sears first or too next time.
Was really hassle free and (hands are clean)...

I kept/got my 2 old shocks - man REALLLY rusted out - think they are the original GM OEM ones 114,000 miles ago.

THANKS - for all advice... (will do it next time myself)

 

Thats great to hear its done and it was cheap. I hate sears though, screwed my girlfriend over, she had a dead battery and charged $150 to "test" and replace it. Hmmm, a current meter with the car off is all they needed and a $40 battery. Then they ordered a polished rim when I asked non and wouldn't let me return it becuase they already mounted it!

 

Yep my ex called me a few weeks ago asking if she could use the fairly-recent battery out of her old car in her new car, and I told her to go to Autozone and just buy a $40 battery and have her friend's dad install it. Then she calls me the next day "My mom told me to go to Sears, they charged me $100 for a new battery. The guy told me only this "international" battery would work, are you sure that $40 battery would've worked?" International! I questioned her about Interstate, but she insisted he said international. *sigh* Would've smacked her if I was still seein' her (okay not really..)

Anyways, good to hear you got the stuff done. Not a bad deal I guess. Yeah, its not required to jack the car up at all to remove the shocks. The only reason we say to do it is because you don't have a lift at home, so jacking the car up and throwing it on jackstands is the next best/safe way to do things